Afro DZ ak is more than your average MC, but that statement doesn't nearly do justice to his art. In truth, this artist isn't an MC, he's not a singer, he's not an arranger and he's not a trained trumpet player; he's a light in an otherwise dark and somber hip-hop world.
As he says in the opening lines of the first track on his debut album, "Elevation," "A lot of cats claim to be shining the light/ But we're still in the dark because they ain't shining it right/ Is this over your head? Or should I start rapping about rapping about bustin gats instead/ But nah, that ain't me I can't take that route/ I'm diggin in the batter's box and I can't make that out." In fact, almost everything about Afro DZ ak's place in the modern music scene can be derived from his lyrics.
It becomes readily evident on "Elevation" that DZ ak is taking a firm stance against the negativity and pessimism of the hip-hop genre, but his message goes beyond music alone. DZ ak's sound is a perplexing mix of hip hop, jazz, R&B and pop that leaves the listener with no choice but to sit through every cut at least five times in order to pick out the intricacies of the layered rhymes, trumpet swells and sampled and live beats.
But listening to the album is most definitely a labor of love. Each layer only gives the songs a newer and brighter meaning. The opening track, "Shine," kicks off with a sampled vocal melodically yet fervently repeating the word "shine," and quickly throws in a drum loop. After that point, it's difficult to tell which parts are instrumental and which are sampled. In the end, though, this question doesn't really matter — the music melds together as an even more potent whole.
"In the Zone" is one of the most genre-bending songs on the album — the boundaries are so faint already that that's really saying something. Even though the hook is a simple trumpet line, it holds together under incredible duress. From the start, the track sounds like a smooth jazz standard, with a simple piano and shaker duo creating a lightly rolling surface for DZ ak to pave his way with words. At about two minutes in, a trumpet solo takes the fore and, surprisingly enough, fits in perfectly with the rest of the track. For these 30 seconds, it sounds as though the music could be coming from a Miles Davis record, not a hip-hop album.
Perhaps one of the closest-to-home tracks for Tufts students comes in the form of "Balancing Act," a lyrically focused track that deals with DZ ak's struggle to balance his wide range of passions. "Whether it's a mic or some chalk in my hand/ I'm just trying to reach the youth any way that I can," says Shungu, who, in reality, splits his days between playing gigs at night and working for a nonprofit during the day.
Throughout the course of "Elevation," the positivity of DZ ak's lyrics, beats and instrumentals shines through, even the tracks in the darkest of minor keys. It comes as a welcome reminder to all Tuftonians, no matter how close to graduation, that a higher education means worlds more than simply a larger paycheck.
